Results tagged “greaterhoustonpreservationalliance”

741 Rocky River is just down the street from the Ralph Anderson, Jr. house at 695 Rocky River that was torn down in early October, and 1314 South, while situated between works by Staub, Briscoe, and Watkin, couldn't escape the will of its new owner Jim Crane (yep, that Jim Crane). Oddly enough, Mr. Crane was involved in the renovation of the 1904 Commercial National Bank building that won a Good Brick Award in 2002 from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.

GHPA Walking Tour: Old Sixth Ward In perfect timing with last week's City Council designation of Old SIxth Ward as Houston's first and only Protected Historic District, the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance will hold it's monthly walking tour this afternoon in the historic neighborhood. On the second Sunday of every month, GHPA presents a docent-guided walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant area of Houston. $10 per person ($7 for GHPA members). Reservations are...

This morning, Houston City Council designated Old Sixth Ward as the first and only Protected Historic District in the city. This new status will enable the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission to prohibit the demolition of historic structures within Old Sixth Ward's 33.8 acres. There was only one dissenting vote for this measure, which came from council member/real estate broker Michael Berry. As far as actual limitations on properties within the district, the Greater Houston...

The Doyle House was built in 1906 by William A. Wilson, an important person in the early growth of the Heights and who was the developer of Woodland Heights and Eastwood. The house is located at the southwest corner of Heights Blvd. and 10th St., and was recently acquired by local builder Harry James who has been constructing and rehabbing homes in inner Houston, with a recent concentration in the Heights. James plans on demolishing...

Save our Landmarks, one of the groups trying to save the River Oaks Shopping Center and Theater and the Alabama Theater/Bookstop, sent out an e-mail update about the River Oaks situation yesterday. Here's a overview of what's going on. Weingarten Realty Investors, which owns all three properties, on Monday began the process to get approval to demolish the curved section of the River Oaks center on the north side of West Gray — the portion...

The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission voted yesterday to begin the landmark designation process for the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater and Alabama Theater/Bookstop, the three significant Art Deco structures that have been in the news since news broke last summer that Weingarten Realty Investors could be planning to demolish them to make way for new development. The move toward designating the buildings city landmarks comes without Weingarten's approval — the first...

In October of last year the (Silver Dollar) Jim West mansion was sold to Olajuwon Farms (the bucolic name of Hakeem's land management company). After sifting through archives, though, Linda Sansing, a teacher in Clear Creek ISD and co-founder of Preserved in Time (a nonprofit to help raise awareness of the West mansion), found a deed restriction that may prevent any tampering with the mansion until July of 2012. The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance's David...

Do you have any information or ability to dispute a rumor that a mosque is being built at the corner of Allen Parkway and Montrose? — Johnna The site — on the east side of Montrose between Allen Parkway and West Dallas — won't be home to a mosque, per se, but rather an Ismaili center built by the Aga Khan Foundation. According to the Chronicle, the center will include lecture and conference facilities and...

The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance continues its monthly walking tours this weekend in the historic Woodlands Heights.

Houston City Council passed amendments to the current preservation ordinance that will make it easier for residents to designate neighborhoods as historic districts, and a two year building permit penalty if any historic landmark or structure in a historic district is demolished. For district designation, there will need to be a 51% consent of property owners, down from 67%. The permit penalty will prohibit the city from granting building permits for a site where a...

Since Weingarten Realty Investors announced its plans Friday for the redevelopment of part of the River Oaks Shopping Center, Houstonist has gotten several e-mails from readers asking about the future of the other sections of the center. Specifically, we've heard a lot of questions about the fate of the River Oaks Theatre because of media reports including an article in the Houston Business Journal headlined "Theater safe as Weingarten plans $15M redevelopment at River Oaks Shopping Center." The article reads, in part:

Photo: Flickr user WesternGulf

Today, Preservation Texas named five Houston-area sites to its list of 2007's Most Endangered Places in the state: the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks and Alabama theaters, the West Mansion in Clear Lake, the Capitan Theater in Pasadena and unprotected neighborhoods in Galveston. This year's list focuses on historic movie theaters, but all the sites made it for a reason — unfortunately: All of them are in imminent danger of being lost through demolition or neglect. We figured this would be a good time to introduce you to the local endangered sites you don't know about and update you on the ones you do:

The Houck house was built in 1947 and originally inhabited by the founder of the Braes Heights subdivision (now part of the larger Braeswood Place), Harvey Houck, and is located at 3780 Gramercy St. According to the Houston Architectural Guide,* it was a "late but spirited modern house, incorporating such contemporary details as the solarium's canted green glass windows." The house was included in Houston Mod's endangered list around the time it was put up...

One week into the new year and you still haven't made any resolutions? Let us help. Thinking of resolving to exercise more but searching for a not so cliche term? Combine your health goals with a mission to learn more about your city, and join the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance's Monthly Walking Tours. See the city while shedding some pounds. You overchiever, you! This month's walk will take place this Sunday in one of Houston's...

image: National Trust for Historic Preservation

Monday, November 6th, 7 p.m.: The star-filled tear-jerker Terms of Endearment, written by Larry McMurtry and James Brooks, and the drama-filled 1984 Cannes Film Festival winner Paris, Texas.

Here's some good news for those of us interested in keeping some of Houston's past around: In a couple of weeks, the Magnolia Ballroom building downtown will become the first commercial building in Houston to be a protected city landmark. City Council created the protected landmark designation last year; under it, protected properties may never be relocated, unsympathetically altered or demolished. Property owners have to apply and meet certain criteria to have their structures named...

To help, you can still sign the petition, write letters, buy the t-shirt, and print out the picture.

In addition to the Prudential's impending demise, the pink marble of the UT Dental Branch building will be littered along the landscape to make way for a new $60 million structure.

Now that everyone has had time to marvel at the thought of the River Oaks Shopping Center/theater (a couple of the few remaining art deco structures in this city) on the dark side of the wrecking ball, let Houstonist shift your attention several blocks away to the Alabama Theater. When Weingarten Realty and Pete Kaldis Realty teamed up in the early to mid-'80s to buy the property and adaptively re-use it, the theater, which was turned into a Bookstop, was refurbished so that it could serve as a store now with the capability of being converted back to a theater at a later point in time.

Even though the support continues to grow for the preservation of the River Oaks Shopping Center and Theater, many questions remained unanswered, and Weingarten has continued to keep their reticence. Rumors and some evidence throw a mix of names into the equation: Hermes Architects for the northwestern curved section, Wallace Garcia Wilson Architects for the highrise, and Barnes and Noble for an anchor. While concerned patrons, shareholders, and members of the community continue to...

Houstonians are banding together in what seems like an unprecedented collaboration for historic preservation. In actuality, many of us have always cared, but this time we have some notice. A sketch from Hermes Architects shows clear plans to demolish the current location of Black-eyed Pea restaurant with an anchor (Barnes & Noble), and the implementation of a three-level parking garage that would run along the back side of the center. According to the Chronicle:...

We've tried to think of something memorable to say in celebration of getting 10,000 signatures on our petition opposing the demolition of the River Oaks Shopping Center and the former Alabama Theater this afternoon, but all we can come up with is, "Wow." Thanks to everyone who has signed the petition and passed it around to friends, neighbors, concerned Houstonians and even people in other parts of the country who don't want to see architecturally and historically significant buildings get torn down to make way for big-box retail and high-rise residential projects. You guys rock.

Houstonist has never been much of one to mess with petitions, but we figured the possible demolition of the River Oaks Shopping Center (and the Alabama Theater) was as good a reason as any — better than most, in our book — to get started. So we're sponsoring a petition opposing Weingarten Realty Investors' plans to tear down the River Oaks center. If you missed the news this weekend, check out the Chronicle article. Here's...

Photo: Flickr user narrazione